Feb. 18 -- THE UNEXPECTED CHAMPION

BY SCOTT LAUBER

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- J.A. Happ never expected to win a World Series. Not last year. Not after being among the Phillies' first spring-training cuts and nearly falling off the prospect radar because of a 2007 elbow problem.

But he pitched the Phillies to a pair of September wins over the Braves and was included on the playoff roster. And after pitching in Game 3 of the NLCS, sprinting from the bullpen to the mound to pile on closer Brad Lidge after the final out of the World Series and riding in the parade down Broad Street, Happ needed to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

So, he called Don and Kathy Kadlac.

Happ isn’t related to the Kadlacs. Not by blood, anyway. But they are his baseball parents, the kind folks with whom he lived in 2005 when he was just a 22-year-old prospect pitching at Class A Lakewood.

"We congratulated him, of course, and it was like he was in a dream world," Kathy Kadlac told me yesterday from her home in Brick, N.J. "I think he was numb. He just kept saying, 'I can't believe we won the World Series. And I helped get us there.'"

The Phillies even invited Happ along for their World Series trophy tour last month. He made stops at banquets in Lakewood, N.J., and Williamsport, Pa. At the Lakewood event, he reunited with the Kadlacs, even singling them out during a short speech.

"He took the microphone and turned to us and thanked us for being part of his life," Kathy said. "I got goosebumps. He's a very humble young man, but he's very determined. His goal is to make it to the top."

Now, though, his goal is to win the Phillies' fifth-starter job, and he'll have to beat out Kyle Kendrick, Chan Ho Park and Carlos Carrasco in spring training. If he doesn't, he still can win a job in the Phillies' bullpen as a second lefty reliever.

Happ will do whatever it takes to duplicate the feeling he had last October.

"My goal is to be in the big leagues," Happ said. "Hopefully, my minor-league days are behind me. I want to prove that I'm ready to have a spot on this team."

***
Raul Ibanez doesn't condone what Alex Rodriguez and other admitted steroid users in baseball have done. But unlike many players, he isn't crying about how the cheaters got an unfair advantage. Quite the opposite, actually.

"I'm actually thankful almost because I think the guys that were cheating made me better," Ibanez said yesterday. "I wasn't going to take that road, and I knew I had to work harder to compete to keep up with the other people who were cheating. My mindset was always that I was going to outlast the people that were cheating because it's a foreign substance, and it's not supposed to be in your body. I always felt that I was going to work harder and be better. I think it wound up making me better. I think I probably never would've gone into the weight room if the game hadn't gotten so big and strong. I probably wouldn't have gone to find the best trainers and the best training methods. Of course, part of you thinks you got cheated, but the optimistic side of me says I'm glad because it made me a better player."

***
On tap for today: We'll hear from Mike Schmidt (always interesting), and hopefully, we'll get a chance to chat with Jimmy Rollins (usually even more interesting). So, stay tuned for all of that.